HIRE OF ENGINE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4722, 9 July 1924, Page 2

HIRE OF ENGINE.

CLAIM BEFORE THE COURT. ENGINEER WINS CASE. At a special sitting of the Magistrate’s Court, Paeroa, on June 23, before Mr J. H. Salmon, S.M., John Hubbard, engineer, Paeroa, claimed from Jakob Bertelsen (Mr A. U- Gorrie) the sum of £7 7s, being the amount for goods supplied and for hire of an engine between June 7 and July 31, 1923. Planitiff stated that the defendant had approached him in June, 1923, and asked if he could hire an engine for cutting firewood until such'time as he could complete, his mill and insial a motor. Plaintiff stated .that he .showed defendant a Kauri engine, which had been overhauled and was in good order. Defendant agreed to take it and the engine was duly installed Owing to the engine bed being too fiimsy the engine was unstable, and it was with difficulty that the driving belt was put on. The engine drove the saw and cut a quantity covered with a horse-rug. The engine rdove the saw and cut a quantity of firewood, but he suggested that defendant should improve the foundations. Some six weeks later he went to defendant, who told him that the engine would not work, and that he would not pay for the installation or hire of the engine, which had not then been returned. To Mr Gorrie plaintiff said that the negotiations had been made in his workshop. The flywheels had been taken off to make it easier to move the engine. No agreement had been made as to its erection. The engine had not been run at full pressure because it was insecurely bolted down on the blocks. He had instructed defendant and a* man how to stop and re-start the engine, and had pointed out that the foundation was not solid enough. Robert Phillips, sawmiller, Paeroa, said that he had called at defendant’s and had seen the engine driving the saw for firewood cutting. The engine was jumping on its foundations, and a fair trial of its capabilities could not be expected. To Air Gorrie witness said that ne could not swear to the size of the wood that had been sawn, but should think it was a six-inch cut. The engine bed was made of rough slabs. Jakob Bertelsen, Paeroa, butcher, the defendant, stated that he had gone to plaintiff and made arrangements to hire the engine at the rate of .10 a week. If it did not work satisfactorily the engine was to be returned to plaintiff. He and another man had carted the engine to the saw bench, and it was bolted on to some logs with bolts’which had been purchased from plaintiff. When the engine was erected plaintiff went round and spent hours in an unsuccessful endeavour to get the engine to start. Later on plaintiff got the engine to go but it would not work when the belt from the pulley was conected with the saw bench. After that plaintiff got the engine to go, and the belt was slipped on as the engine was running. Defendant said he told plaintiff that it was a dangerous practice, and that he objected. Plaintiff had covered up the engine after the trial inn, and he had not touched it since. Although plaintiff had rendered his accounts he had advise 1 him that the engine would not do what was required of it, and was unsatisfactory. If plaintiff could make the engine go he was still willing to pay for it. Defendant stated that plaintiff had done a lot of work for him ovex- a number of years and there had never been a dispute before. To His Worship defendant said that he had bolted .the engine down, but the matter of its suitability was in the hands of plaintiff. T. H. Duncan corroborated the evidence of the previous witness and detailed the difficulty experienced in getting the engine, to start. To Mr Hubbard witness said that defendant had instructed him to put weights on the logs to steady the engine. Thomas Stewart Carter, accountant, said that he had seen planitiff and defendant working on the engine and knew of the difficulty that had been experienced. The Magistrate’s reserved decision was given at the sitting of the Court on Monday, when judgment was entered for plaintiff for the amount of £6 19s 6d. with costs £2 10s.